Awards for Iranian Writer and Directors

*Iranian writer Habib Ahmadzadeh has received the third prize of the Writing Forge Short Story Competition for his Letter to the Sa'ad Family.

The story has been translated into English by Paul Sprachman and published in Ahmadzadeh's award-winning short story collection City under Siege.

Letter to the Sa'ad Family is a letter from the forces under control of the Third Army of Basra to the family of Sa'ad Abd al-Jabbar, a member of the 23rd Battalion of the Special Republican Guard Forces of Iraq.

The writer has asked the “first finder or finders of this letter” to “deliver its contents in any way possible to” Sa'ad's family.

Writers from all continents, except Antarctica, took part in the first Writing Forge Short Story Competition. The event's first and second prizes went to Douglas Bruton and Andrew Scott for The Piano Tuner and I Peel the Clouds Away respectively.

An accomplished writer and scenarist, Habib Ahmadzadeh is a veteran of the Iraq-Iran war, who served as an Iranian navy captain.

His award-winning collection of short stories City under Siege became the basis for Iranian filmmaker Kioumars Pourahmad's successful Night Bus.

Ahmadzadeh sent his novel Eagle Feather to international peace groups in 2009 to remind the world of the war in Gaza. The novel recounts the siege story of the city of Abadan in southern Iran during the 1980-88 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran and civilian resistance.

His other Iraq-Iran war novel Chess with the Doomsday Machine has also been translated by American scholar Paul Sprachman.

*“Banquet Under the Water” by Iranian director Babak Amini has won three awards at the FIKE 2010 -- 9th International Short Film Festival in Evora, Portugal.

Ashkan Ashkani won the best cinematography award while the cast won the Best Acting award of the festival, which took place from October 19 to 23.

The film also received a Don Quixote Award from the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC).

“Banquet Under the Water” tells the story of a couple defusing mines that remain from war, out in the countryside in a camp near the border. On the day before the New Year and its special ceremonies, they find an antique buried in a minefield, which changes their lives grievously.

The festival’s Best Fiction award went to “Rose” by Argentine director Mónica Lairana and the Best Documentary prize was awarded to “A Day and an Eternity” by German filmmaker Anna Hepp.

FIKE is an independent international event organized by the University of Évora Film Society, Páteo do Cinema -- SOIR Joaquim Antonio de Aguiar and Estação Imagem.

*“Whisper with the Wind” by Kurdish Iranian director Shahram Alidi has won two prizes at the International Euroarab Film Festival Amal in Spain.

“Whisper with the Wind” was awarded the best film prize while the Kurdish Iraqi actor starring in the film, Omar Chawshin, won the best actor award at the event, which took place in Santiago de Compostela from October 23-30.

Organized by the Araguaney Foundation-Bridge of Cultures, Amal came up with the aim of approaching the public about social reality and Arab culture, through the worldwide language of cinema.

“Whisper with the Wind” is about an old man who travels between the mountainous villages in Kurdish Iraq to deliver messages from families separated by war in the region.

The film has previously received several accolades in international events including the Cannes and Mumbai film festivals.

Last January, the film received a Don Quixote Award from the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC) at the Tromso International Film Festival (TIFF) in Norway.